Process for making carbureted air gas



Nov. 15, 1932. c. o. WANNACK 1,888,059

PROCESS FOR MAKING CARBURETED AIR GAS Filed June 14, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 fit/67212771 6a?! Otto Zz/annar/t,

Nov. 15, 1932. o vy u g 1,888,059

PROCESS FOR MAKING CARBURETED AIR GAS Filed June 14, 2

ts-Sheet 2 IIIIIIIIII.

I 1 A 1" iv 5 Patented Nov. 15, 1932- UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE CARL OTTO WANNACK, OF. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

ASSIGNOR, BY LIESNE ASSIGN'IMIIIIPJJS, TO

S. H. G. INCORPORATED, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE PROCESS FOR MAKING CARIBUBETED AIR GAS Application filed June 14,

My invention relates to a process for making carbureted air combustible gas, and refers more particularly to the production of a stable uniform B. t. u. content gas from a combustible liquid such as a hydrocarbon.

liquid, and more specifically such as gasoline or the like by breaking up and bringing: air and hydrocarbon liquid into intimate relation with each other whereby a dry stable vuniform B. t. u; content gas is formed.

' An object of my invention is to supply a great demand for a self-contained automatic gas generating process which provides a complete plant for installation in districts remote from and/or not supplied with natural or manufactured gas from a. central gas station,

particularly for domestic use, for stoves, house heating, and the like. In its broader aspects, of course, it is to be understood that the process of the present invention is equally applicable to the largest industrial uses as well as the smallest domestic uses.

Another and further object of my invention is the provision of a method for making a combustible gas from liquid hydrocarbon which is simple in operation, efi'ective in service, and safe for use without the danger of explosion resulting from flash backs from the burner or combustion from other accidental causes.

Another and further object of my invention is to provide a process capable of producing a stable uniform B. t. 11. content gas.

Various attempts have been made to supply the demand for a self-contained automatic gas generating process by apparatus where air is passed through gasoline or like combustible material, and in passing therethrough the air convertsor picks up some ofthe hydrocarbon in the shape of vapors, thus forming a carb ureted air gas. The processes of the prior art have not proved entirely satisfactory for the reason that gasoline-like hydrocarbons are a m'ixture'of hydrocarbons having a wide range of boiling points, and in the passage of air through such gasoline-like hydrocarbons to make gas, the air invariably picks up the lighter ends of the gasoline-like hydrocarbon with the result that eventually 1928. Serial iNo. 285,229.

a residue of the higher boiliugpoint portions thereof is left.

Gas made in the above manner gradually becomes poorer in quality and finally so poor, because of the volume of air to gasoline-like vapor being so great, that it will no longer burn. Q

Further, during the period from the production of the best gas to the production of the poorer gas, the quality of the gas is changing; hence, said air mixture at the burner is not suitable for this range of difference in the richness or leanness of the gasoline vapors in the'mi'xture. b

By actual'trial I have succeeded in making a uniform mixture of carbureted air gas by forcing air and combustible hydrocarbon through a non-absorbent substance, functioning to'minutely divide the air and hydrocarbon into finely divided condition and thoroughly andintimately mix the two to produce a stable gas of a uniform quality. The process is so carried out that the air will not rob the gasoline-like hydrocarbon of its lighter ends. In other words, the gas produced by the present invention is substantially uniform for all practical purposes during the entire consumption of the combustible hydrocarbon.

As a feature of the present invention, the air and hydrocarbon are brought into intimate contact in such a manner that the gas is formed without disturbing or agitating the entire body of the liquid hydrocarbon, so that the disadvantages of washing the newly formed gas through a body of liquid hydrocarbon are eliminated. As an additional feature of the process, the air is introduced in better understoodfrom the following specification.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevational view, partly in vertical section, illustrating the installation of equipment for practicing the present process.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional View of the gas producer.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view illustrating the connection between the stationary and movable elements.

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the bottom closure cap illustrated in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view on line 6--6 of Fig. 2.-

Before entering into a detailed description of the drawings, it may be well to briefly describe the process.

Air is-forced in the usual manner by a blower through a stationary pipe connected to a tank holding a bulk supply of liquid hydrocarbon, and cooperatively associated with this stationary pipe entering inside of this tank to a depth, prearranged from 'the bottom of said tank, is a tubular column filled with suitable non-absorbent material, which column is su 1pported by a suitable float, enabling it to sin into the body ofliquid hydrocarbons to a predetermined depth, de-

pending upon the boiling pointsof said bydrocarbon liquid.

The floating column slides freely vertically on said stationary air supply pipe until it has reached the bottom of said storage tank through the diminishing of said liquid, converting said liquid'into a stable uniform B. t. u. content gas without disturbing or "agitating the bulk supply of liquid hydrocarbons.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, 1 designates an air inlet pipe communicating with a point exteriorly of the building, designated diagrammatically at 2. Suction is imposed on this pipe 1 by means of a conventional blower 3 operated through the medium of a motor 4, which has electric current connections with an automatic mercoid control, designated diagrammatically at 5, the connecting wires being illustrated at 6. The blower forces air through the pipe 7, in which may be interposed a check valve 8 and an air scrubber 9,.into a pipe 10. The air scrubber 9 will mechanically remove moisture contained in the air over and above that amount which may be normally held by the air at a given temperature. Pipe 10 extends into the interior of a tank or container 11 which is used as a storage tank for holding a prede termined supply of combustible liquid 12, such, for instance, as a hydrocarbon liquid, and more specifically gasoline o? the like. The pipe 10 is stationary and non-movable, being welded or otherwise suitably connected to the tank 11 in such a manner that it does not move. Air forced through the pipes 7 and 10 discharges into a chamber 13 formed between the lower end of the pipe 10 and the upper surface of a closure cap 14, closing the bottom of a movable tubular column 15. The

column comprises an annular chamber adapted to be filled with non-absorbing'material 16, such,,for instance, as steel wool or the like. Connected to the column 15 is a float 17 of a conventional type, the arrangement being such that the float floats in the liquid 12 and as the level of liquid recedes in the tank 11 the float will be carried downwardly, carrying with it the column 15.

Above the closure cap 14 the inner tube of the column 15 may be provided with spaced apertures 18.

v The arrangement is such that air discharging from the lower end of the pipe 10 passes through the apertures 18 into the chamber of the column 15 containing the non-absorbent material 16. Due to the pressure of the surrounding liquid, the air will seek the path "of least resistance and will ascend through said absorbent material. Liquid from the liquid body 12 will siphon into the chamber holding the non-absorbent material 16 through the medium of the apertures 19, there being at all times a uniform height of liquid in' the chamber containing the absorbent material 16. Thus, it is obvious that the air discharging through the apertures 18 into the body of absorbent material 16 will be forced to pass upwardly through this body of liquid of predetermined uniform depth, during which time said air will become intimately mixed with said liquid and will carry same upwardly, the non-absorbent material during the ascent of said air-liquid mixture tending to break up the mixture into finely divided gaseous condition, which gas passes out'of the upper end of the column '15 through the apertures 20 in the closure cap closing the top of the column, saidgas discharging into the vapor space of the chamber 11.

This gas will pass into the conduit- 21 posi tioned inside the chamber 11, but adjacent the upper wall thereof. The conduit 21 may be positioned on an angle from the horizontal, that is, in sloping position with its inlet end-.disposed lower than its outlet end for 1 the obvious purpose of permitting any liquid trapped in the conduit 21 to flow downwardly by gravity back into the body of liquid hydrocarbon 12. The pipe 21, of course, may be vertical, or it may be horizontally positioned, and it is preferably packed with steel wool or a similar porous mass having a plurality of capillary spaces. 'As the mixture passes ,therethrough it is still broken up into finely divided condition, any liquid not thoroughly mixed draining back into the bulk supply 12. The gas then passes through line 23 which has direct communication with the conduit 21. I

Returning now to Fig. 2, it is to be noted that the tubular column 15 slides freely on said stationary pipe 10. The distance'be tween pipe 10 and column 15 is preferably carefully worked out beforehand so as to Lao permit a definite amount of air to be introduced through the ipelO to pass upwardly between the wallso? pipes and without coming into contact with any part of the liquid hydrocarbon until said air discharges above the upper end of the closure cap This is of particular importance in the use of the present process, since the passage of this small portion of air into the free space above the liquid body, which is used as gas storage, will help to reduce the B. t. u. content of the gas to the desired point so that the gas made will compare in B. t. u. content.

with gas with which it may compete. It is to be noted, of course, that the amount of air passing through thetelescope section of air supply pipe and floating column is prearranged depending upon the boiling points of the liquid used. 7

The carbureted air gas passing through the line 23 may be discharged into the line 24, in which line is interposed the lnercoid control heretofore described, the pressure regulating valve 25, valve 26, from which it passes into line 24' and from the latter to a urner or other place of utilization. Interposed in the line 2-1 may be asafety valve 27 communicating through the medium of the pipe 28 with the atmosphere.

For the purpose of safety, the tank 11 may be located beneath the surface of the ground and maybe supplied with gasoline or other hydrocarbon to be used through the charging pipe 29.

The operation of the process isas follows:

The switch 5 is set so that it will operate the pump to maintain a predetermined pressure on the tank 11. When the pressure on tank 11 reaches this predetermined point, it causes the automatic electric switch 5 to disengage, thus temporarily shutting off the motor. When the pressure drops below the predetermined amount because of consumption of gas it causes switch 5 to again make contact to start themotor and place the latter again in operation, it being understood that the only function of the motor 4 is to operate the blow; er 3 which forces air into the tank 11. It wiil be readily appreciated that the process is automatically maintained at a predetermined suitable pressure, say 3 lbs. per square inch, more or less. The burners or other consuming devices are shut off and, of course, the automatic electric switch 5 hasbeen disengaged due to the pressure rising to a predetermined point, which interrupts the operation of the motor and air compressor, and everything is in a quiescent state. If gas is wanted, a suitable valve at the burner is opened and this starts the flow of gas from the container 11 through lines 23, 24 and 24 into the burner (Snot shown), thus causing the pressure to rop.

In actual operation good results have been secured by having the automatic switch control set so that it makescontact to place-the blower in operation when the pressure drops below one and one-half pounds and shutsofi again when the pressure has been built up to four and one-half pounds per square inch. These figures, of course, are purely illustrative and are not to be taken in any sense as a limitation of the process. F

The drop in pressure to the minimum for which the electrical control switch 5 is set causes the latter to engage, which in turn places the motor and air compressor in operation, thus forcing air through stationary pipe 10 into the column 15, causing the air and hydrocarbon to be thoroughly broken up and completely mixed. This mixture is then passed through the conduit 21 where it is freed ofany unmixed liquid gasoline, after which the gasoline passes through the'lines 23, 24 and 24 to the burners or other con-- suming devices, which operation continues as long as the gas is being consumed.

As a rule, which is known as casing head gasoline is used in processes of this character, although a heavier gasoline may be used. If a very light casing head gas is used and the gas is too rich, the distance between the pipe 10 and column 15 is increased to permit a greater quantity of air to be passed therebetween for diluting purposes. Conversely, ifthe gas is too lean the distance between the pipe 10 and column 15 is decreased so as to decrease the supply of diluting air.

As a feature of the invention, it is to be noted that the air discharging through the apertures 18 into .the column 15 will always pass through a predetermined depth of liq uidhydrocarbon, that is, the height of liquid above the liquidlevel of the bulk supply 12,

regardless of whether the tank is almost com-- pletely full or almost completely empty, the

float, of course, moving upwardly and dow'n-' wardly with the increase and decrease of liquid level. The tank is never charged with an excess of liquid suflicient to shut off the apertures 18. As an advantage of this feature of passing the air through a predetermined supply of liquid, the air and liquid are brought into intimate contact to form the gas and this .in the base of the column 15 will never be '10 gas thereafter is not washed by being forced to pass through the entire body 12.

W'hen the supply of liquid hydrocarbon 12 is converted into a stable gas' and the freely sliding floating column 15 has reached the bottom of the tank," sufficient liquid remains in the tank to prevent forming an explosive mixture. Since the air discharging through the ports 18 ascends, and is prevented from descending due to the liquid seal, the ascent of said air will function to siphon the liquid needed into the floating column 15.

Due to the fact that the air only agitates the liquid which is in the column 15, and further because of the fact that this amount is are ntane hexane benzol alcohols asop 7 7 line, et cetera.

I claim as myinvention:

1. A process of generating combustible carbureted air gas, which comprises maintaining abulk supply of volatile combustible liquid under pressure in a closed zone, temporarily isolating a portion of the liquid from said bulk supply, intermittently introducing air under pressure into contact with the isolated liquid to form combustible gas, withdrawing combustible gas thus formed from the gas storage zone thereby reducing the pressure in said storage zone, and automatically regulating theintroduction of'air to said storage zone by the reduction in pressure following the withdrawal of gas from said storage zone. I

2. A process of generating combustible c'arbureted air gas, which comprises maintaining a bulk supply of volatile combustible liquid under pressure in a-closed zone, temporaril isolating a portion of the liquid from the saic bulk supply, intermittently introducing air under pressure into contact with said isolated portion of the liquid to form combustible gas, confining said gas in a gas storage zone, withdrawing combustible gas from said storage zone, and replenishing the liquid in said isolated portion by causing liquid to flow thereinto from said bulk supply.

3. A process of producing combustible carbureted air gas, which comprises main-- taining a bulk supply of combustible liquid under pressure in'a closed zone temporarily isolating a portion of the liquid from said bulk supply, introducing air under pressure into contact with'aportion of said isolated liquid, thereby forming combustible gas, storing said gas in a gas storage zone, withdrawing combustible gas from said storage zone,

thereby reducing the pressure therein, intermittently building up the pressure in said storage zone to a predetermined maximum when the withdrawal of gas has reduced the pressure to a predetermined minimum.

4. A process of producing combustible carbureted air gas, which comprises maintaining a bulk supply of combustible liquid under pressure in a closed zone temporarily isolating a portion of the liquid from said bulk supply, introducing air under pressure into contact with a portion of said isolated liquid, thereby forming combustible gas, storing said gas in a gas storage zone withdrawing combustible gas from said storage zone, thereby reducing the pressure therein, intermittently building up the pressure in said storage zone to a predetermined maximum when the withdrawal of gas has reduced the pressure to a predetermined minimum, and during the step of building up said pres;

sure introducing the air required for the for-' mation of the combustible gas.

5. A process of making combustible carbureted air gas, which comprises maintaining V a bulk supply of volatile combustible liquid under pressure in a closed zone temporarily isolating a portion of the liquid from said bulk supply, introducing air under pressure into contact with a portion of said isolated liquid, thereby forming combustible gas, storing said gas in a gas storage zone, withdrawing combustible gas from said storage zone, thereby reducing the pressure therein until a predetermined minimum is reached, automatically building up said pressure to a predetermined maximum by-the introduction of a fresh supply of air, and maintaining a supply of gas available for consumption by intermittently supplying new charges of air, thus restoring the pressure in the storage zone to a maximum. In testimon whereof I aflix my signature.

'- ARL OTTO WAN NACK.

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